Motor/ESC questions

[BrianG]

I was planning on a 9xl, but am now leaning towards 10xl. I'm using the stock Revo tranny so I have a decent amount of choices for spur/pinion combos. I plan on racing so I don't want any chance of things overheating from stress (assuming gearing is correct of course). I too think the Quark 80 will handle it, but figured it's bigger brother would heat up less and not be as stressed so it will stay cooler longer. I don't want to use a fan either. However, I read somewhere that it is advisable to use an ESC that somewhat matches the motor - something about the current feedback from the motor being more accurate (read: better control) if the max amount of current the motor will pull is roughly equal to the ESC rating. Maybe the quark will let me add a little larger heatsink; but I can't find some decent 360* views to be sure.

[BrianG]

Well, I did it. I ordered the following:

- BK 10xl
- Quark 125B (I know, I know, it's overkill; but I really don't want any overheating issues).
- RCM XL Heatsink
- UBEC
- Some 5.5mm connectors (how come they don't come in sets anymore? Not that I really care, just curious)

Hopefully, that will work nice for my racing Revo. Now to wait for a motor mount and some Li-Ion (or equivalent) batts, preferably >= 4Ah...

[Dafni]

BrainG, good decision. FYI, the Quark comes with short motorleads attached, 3 sets of 5.5mm connectors(!), shrink tubes in 3 colors, an on/off switch, a nice manual and in a small cardboard box... what a nice package! BK, go figure!

DAF

[Sylvester]

Originally Posted by Dafni

BrainG, good decision. FYI, the Quark comes with short motorleads attached, 3 sets of 5.5mm connectors(!), shrink tubes in 3 colors, an on/off switch, a nice manual and in a small cardboard box... what a nice package! BK, go figure!

DAF

Now Daf, how would you know what comes in the package? :dft012:

[BrianG]

Thanks Dafni. I received everything on Saturday - great shipping speed Mike!

I am quite impressed with the Quark ESC. Below is a little "review":

Pros:
The whole case except for the very top (where the switch and LEDs are) and ends is aluminum. The sides are formed into a heatsink. I feel much more secure mounting it without fear of snapping an internal component or something. I removed the top plate to see the construction and it is quite nice. The FETs are surface mount and stacked like the BK, but there seems to be a better fit between the FET top and PCB bottom for more efficient heat transfer. (Be careful if you decide to slide the top off though, I accidentally snapped a capacitor from near the switch. It was a pain to resolder.) I really like the reverse mode where you press forward to stop, but have to go back to neutral and forward again to go into reverse. With BK's, the truck will stop and then go into reverse so you have to be careful not to hold the brake/reverse too long. The ESC lets you program in some noise prevention, brake drag amount in neutral, throttle dynamics, and whole bunch of other stuff. Very nice.

Cons:
The instructions to enter basic and advanced programming modes probably could be written a tad clearer, but it's fine overall. There was nothing in the manual about changing motor direction so I imagine you just swap two wires. The Lipo cut-off voltage is a little confusing. You can set the cut-off voltage per cell but you can't set how many cells you are using. It must measure the total voltage and assume you have x number of cells. IMO, I'd rather set the number of cells manually.

Unfortunately, I have not run it yet, except having the motor hooked up unloaded for programming and a little playing.